If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Re: screened vs solid, long cold winters in mind

I do not use warre other than to trap swarms. For my Langstroth hives I use a solid 3 1/2" deep bottom. 2" back from my opening, I have a 'ladder board' for the bees to gain access to the frames. This simulates an insitu bee hive in a hollow log. The dead air space acts as an insulative barrier for winter conditions. I have a 1/2" hole near the center of the bottom board that the bees seem to use in the warmer months to waste dead bees and mites and helps drain condensation. I do not use screened bottoms.

Re: screened vs solid, long cold winters in mind

thanks guys!

curious are you guys running any insulation in winters over them? I've seen some of the anchorage crew making slip overs out of blue board and other insulation. Also are you leaving your hives outdoors to over winter?

I just ripped out two boxes...need to get some hardware to get things screwed and glued together. Managed to miss that little detail on the home depot run oops LOL!

Re: screened vs solid, long cold winters in mind

I lived up in Fairbanks just north of you for a couple of years, actually going up again in june but I never thought to keep bees in a place where it gets -60 and can stay -30 for weeks at a time. I would think you would need to keep them inside a heated structure of some sort, as I'm sure you know, Anchorage is practically tropical compared to the interior so what works for them may not work at all for North Pole. (I always loved the look on peoples faces when I told them I lived north of north pole.)

A lot of people down here on the 'outside' use solid bottoms all year long. I know it get up into the high eighties in the summer but it can't imagine needing the ventilation of a screened bottom even then.

Re: screened vs solid, long cold winters in mind

Re: screened vs solid, long cold winters in mind

I have what I'd found termed the "long winter sump style floor" on my warre - I can't find it anywhere right now, but it's got a screened bottom and if you imagine a normal screened bottom where the screen is on top of the wood with the hole in it and level with (or even slightly above) the door, this one is below the wood with the hole in it so that the door is about an inch above where the screen is. That way if a lot of bees die, they don't block up the entrance and prevent healthy bees from leaving the hive on cleansing flights. My girls didn't survive the summer last year (swarm + no viable replacement queen) but my beekeeping mentor says the only year he ever lost his bees was a year that he put a solid bottom board on - they died from having too much moisture in the hive + no ventilation. Of course he was keeping a lang, so maybe that was it too - they don't vent as well as warre do.

Re: screened vs solid, long cold winters in mind

I made sort of a bottom quilt for mine. It's similar to what HoneyintheRox describes except the sump is 5 1/2" deep, screen bottom, stubby feet, entrance is made by notching the top of the sump box and the box is filled with pine needles and wood chips. Got the idea from Phil Chandler's Pagoda Hive. It's an experiment, we'll see......

Re: screened vs solid, long cold winters in mind

I put screened bottom boards on all of the Warres I build, have for 3 years. But not the "open" screen bottom board, I use the slide board that goes in under the screen. The hive bottom is essentially solid until I slide the board out. I know it sounds funny, but I would never keep bees in an "open" screen bottom hive. Several reasons I use screen bottom boards with slides on my Warres. I think a slide board/solid bottom is healthier, (just a personal choice). A screen bottom board is certain death to Varroa mites that drop off or are groomed off in the hive and fall through the screen. Learning to "read" debris on slide boards helps in monitoring hive health. I use a flashlight and mirror to look up through the screen to monitor comb construction in the bottom box helping gauge when to add more boxes. On extremely hot days, (which are pretty rare here) I pull the slide board out a few inches exposing several inches of screen inside the hive near the entrance for ventilation. I have looked up under the hive through the screen and observed bees hanging on to the exposed screen and fanning during the heat.